Piramal Pharma Solutions, a contract service provider providing development and manufacturing services, plans to invest $25 million to expand its sterile drug development and manufacturing facilities in Lexington, Kentucky.

The company plans to expand the Lexington site capabilities and to add capacity for commercial aseptic manufacturing. This will be done by increasing vial-filling capability and lyophilization capacity as well as upgrades to the associated facilities and utilities. Piramal's Lexington site has a pipeline of products that are expected to be commercialized in next three to five years.

Phase I of the expansion of the Lexington facility will add a new manufacturing suite, including a high-speed vial-filling machine that provides controlled/safe environment for handling potent materials with automated vial washing and sterilization.

Also as part of the first phase of expansion, Piramal will install a new isolator-based vial filler in its existing manufacturing suite. Combined, the two fillers installed under Phase I of the expansion will increase the company's vial-filling capabilities by more than five-fold. Phase II of the expansion will include the installation of two lyophilizers and are planned to integrate with the new filler line in the new manufacturing suite offering dedicated capacity for both potent and non-potent products.

Source: Piramal